Really? You think the NBA even potentially behind NASCAR or NHL?
not the NHL, NASCAR maybe. and not because of it's national appeal, though it does have more national appeal now than it ever has, but i do think that the NBA, and the NHL for that matter, could take a page out of NASCAR's book on growing their sport to the domestic population.
in many ways, the NBA and Nascar have/had the same problem. it's main market is regional in nature.
for years and years and years, NASCAR was the southern sport only for anyone south of the state of KY. 20 years ago, how many Americans outside the Southeast honestly cared about who won the race at Wilkesboro? no one.
the NBA's problem isn't confined to one area of the country so to speak, but it is confined to the major NBA markets everyone has already discussed. to truly grow that sport domestically, you do need the average sports fan tuning in, even in the flyover states.
![Stick Out Tongue :p :p](data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7)
right now there's nothing making those fans turn on an NBA game. and i just can't believe that Stern doesn't want that fan tuning in or buying the occaisional ticket.....
the NHL has the same problem.....you have the 6 primary markets that are NHL diehard. but to the NHL's credit, they have expanded the market in to areas not known to be hockey hotbeds, just as NASCAR has done by going to Chicago, NOCAL, NY, DE, the midwest, CA etc....
the problem the NHL has is it's TV deal.....it gets no exposure, and no one can find the games on VS.
the NBA i think faces a little tougher road because of some of the negative pub that has circulated over hte past 10 years.....when you have so called superstars getting in to some real trouble, players punching coaches, players being insubordinate to coaches (AI's famous "we're talking about practice?"), the Kobe rape case, the fan/player brawl at Detroit etc, etc, etc.......combined with the fact that the quality of the basketball isn't what it was in the Jordan, Bird, Magic era, the NBA just has a bit of a hill to climb in my opinion, in it's domestic market. and honestly, one of the things that really turned me off was the whole soap opera that was created around the Kobe/Shaq quarrel in LA. Play basketball for goodness sakes.
anyway, i do think the NBA may be back on the way up though....you have some bonafied stars in KG, DW, LJ, TD, SN etc....there's some compelling matchups starting to form again like we had with Magic and Bird etc...